In comparison with painted road markings, pavement-marking tapes generally offer superior reflectivity, visibility and durability on streets and highways. However, despite superior performance, pavement-marking tapes are not always selected for pavement marking in place of paint.
Independent of differences of material costs between road marking tape and paints, one explanation for not selecting tape is the current lack of suitably efficient equipment for application of large amounts of tape to roadway surfaces during a short span of time. Existing application systems are exemplified by the manual systems taught by Eckman in U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,256, and the semi-automated systems taught by Eigenmann in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,007,838; 3,155,564; 3,235,436 and 4,565,467. The systems taught by Eigenmann are adapted to cut tape into strips and subsequently apply the tape strips to the roadway surfaces.
The present inventor previously developed a pavement-striping apparatus, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,958 and incorporated herein by reference. The previous apparatus is a trailer type unit. One drawback of a trailer unit is the relatively long time required to align and orient the unit for accurate applications of short lengths of tape. For this reason, a manual application apparatus has often been employed in such situations. The tape application process involving the trailer type apparatus also required a three person crew, one of the crew driving a tow vehicle and one of the crew driving a following vehicle. The third member of the crew typically rides in the tow vehicle and repeatedly returns to the trailer for loading of the apparatus. This necessitates stopping the apparatus to install fresh rolls of tape and splice the tape after application of each roll of pavement marking tape is dispensed.
Another problem encountered with tape applicator devices currently in use is the difficulty in obtaining stability of bond between the tape and the roadway. Although rollers have been employed to further urge the tape against the roadway, the industry has generally relied upon vehicle tires as part of the application process. However, until a stable bond has been achieved, vehicles which stop, start or turn abruptly upon the newly applied tape may dislodge or distort the tape. The usual solution to this problem has been furnishing a following vehicle to drive upon the tape. The following driver (i.e. the second crew member) is instructed to diligently drive the left front wheel of the following vehicle over the tape and to avoid abrupt maneuvers on the tape. In practice, the following driver may fail to accomplish the assigned task, necessitating subsequent costly replacement of poorly secured portions of tape after a very brief service life.
An application apparatus which eliminated the necessity for reliance upon a following vehicle with a diligent, experience crew member to achieve a stable installation and/or allowed for a more rapid overall application rate would be very desirable.